AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EST

WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal government was expected to remain partially shut down past Christmas as the standoff deepened Saturday over President Donald Trump's demand for funds to build a border wall with Mexico.

With Trump's insistence on $5 billion for the wall and negotiations with Democrats in Congress far from a breakthrough, even a temporary measure to keep the government running while talks continued seemed out of reach until the Senate returned for a full session Thursday.

From coast to coast, the first day of the shutdown played out in uneven ways. The Statue of Liberty was still open for tours, thanks to funding from New York state, and the U.S. Post Office was still delivering mail, as an independent agency.

In Arizona, the Grand Canyon was remaining open with state funding, the governor said. But visitors arriving at Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southern New Mexico could check out only the surface, not the underground cavern that is the park's main attraction. The memorial to Oklahoma City bombing victims was to continue to operate, but the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Center at College Station, Texas, said its National Archives facilities were closed during the shutdown.

Yet the disruption affected many government operations and the routines of 800,000 federal employees. Roughly 420,000 workers were deemed essential and were expected to work unpaid. An additional 380,000 were to be furloughed, meaning they will stay home without pay. The Senate had already passed legislation ensuring that workers will receive back pay, and the House was likely to follow suit.

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AP Explains: What happens in a partial government shutdown

A look at the impact of the partial government shutdown:

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WHAT'S OPEN AND WHAT'S CLOSED

Social Security checks will go out and troops will remain at their posts. Doctors and hospitals will receive their Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. The U.S. Postal Service, busy delivering packages for the holiday season, is an independent agency and won't be affected. Passport services, which are funded by fees and not government spending, will also continue.

Virtually every essential government agency, including the FBI, the Border Patrol and the Coast Guard, will remain open. Transportation Security Administration officers will staff airport checkpoints.

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Tsunami triggered by volcano kills at least 43 in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A tsunami apparently caused by the eruption of an island volcano killed at least 43 people around Indonesia's Sunda Strait, sending a wall of water crashing some 65 feet (20 meters) inland and sweeping away hundreds of houses including hotels, the government and witnesses said.

Some 600 people have been reported injured when the tsunami hit 9:27 p.m. Saturday, the Disaster Management Agency said.

Scientists from Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics agency said it could have been caused by undersea landslides from the eruption of Anak Krakatau, a volcanic island formed over years from the nearby Krakatau volcano. They also cited tidal waves caused by the full moon.

"I had to run, as the wave passed the beach and landed 15-20m (meters) inland," Norwegian Øystein Lund Andersen wrote on Facebook. He said he was taking pictures of the volcano when he suddenly saw a big wave come toward him.

"Next wave entered the hotel area where I was staying and downed cars on the road behind it. Managed to evacuate with my family to higher ground trough forest paths and villages, where we are taken care of (by) the locals. Were unharmed, thankfully."

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US envoy to anti-IS coalition quits over Trump's Syria move

WASHINGTON (AP) - Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the global coalition fighting the Islamic State group, has resigned in protest over President Donald Trump's abrupt decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, joining Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in an administration exodus of experienced national security figures. McGurk described Trump's decision as a "shock."

Only 11 days ago, McGurk had said it would be "reckless" to consider IS defeated and therefore would be unwise to bring American forces home. McGurk decided to speed up his original plan to leave his post in mid-February.

"The recent decision by the president came as a shock and was a complete reversal of policy," he said in an email to his staff viewed by The Associated Press. "It left our coalition partners confused and our fighting partners bewildered with no plan in place or even considered thought as to consequences."

Trump's announcement of the withdrawal "left our coalition partners confused and our fighting partners bewildered with no plan in place or even considered thought as to consequences," the email went on.

Appointed to the post by President Barack Obama in 2015 and retained by Trump, McGurk said in his resignation letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the militants were on the run, but not yet defeated, and that the premature pullout of U.S. forces from Syria would create the conditions that gave rise to IS.

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Trump's 2018: A year in a stranger-than-sitcom presidency

WASHINGTON (AP) - The stranger-than-sitcom American presidency opened 2018 with a big tease about mutual nuclear destruction from two leaders who then found "love" not war. It seems President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un were just playing hard to get.

The presidency ends the year saturated in tumult, with the government in partial shutdown and Trump tweeting a video of himself warbling a parody of the theme song from "Green Acres," a television sitcom from the 1960s, to mark his signing of a farm bill.

Throw in a beer-loving and very angry Supreme Court nominee, an unhappy departing defense secretary, Trump's parallel universe of facts and his zillion tweets, and you can see that the president's world this year was touched by the weird, the traumatic and the fantastical - also known as WTF.

There was no holding back the self-described "very stable genius" with the "very, very large brain."

Some serious and relatively conventional things got done in 2018.

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Analysis: Trump, Republicans flirting with a political split

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's relationship with the Republican Party, always a marriage of convenience, is showing signs of serious strain.

The president threatened his bond with virtually every GOP constituency this past week.

Trump's initial openness to a government funding bill that didn't include money for his much-heralded border wall with Mexico infuriated conservatives, including the talk radio and cable television personalities who often shower the president with praise. By pushing the government into a partial shutdown with no clear strategy out, Trump frustrated the rest of his party, which was hoping for a holiday break from Trump-driven dramas.

The divergent plotlines had a common theme: Trump's rejection of his party's counsel as he looks once again to rely on his own instincts to guide his political future.

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Partial government shutdown compounds risks for US economy

WASHINGTON (AP) - Now in its 10th year, America's economic expansion still looks sturdy. Yet the partial shutdown of the government that began Saturday has added another threat to a growing list of risks.

The stock market's persistent fall, growing chaos in the Trump administration, higher interest rates, a U.S.-China trade war and a global slowdown have combined to elevate the perils for the economy.

Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, said he thinks the underlying fundamentals for growth remain strong and that the expansion will continue. But he cautioned that the falling stock market reflects multiple hazards that can feed on themselves.

"What really matters is how people perceive these headwinds - and right now markets and investors perceive them as leading us into a recessionary environment," Daco said.

Many economic barometers still look encouraging. Unemployment is near a half-century low. Inflation is tame. Pay growth has picked up. Consumers boosted their spending this holiday season. Indeed, the latest figures indicate that the economy has been fundamentally healthy during the final month of 2018.

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Connected cars accelerate down data-collection highway

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - That holiday trip over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house could turn into nice little gift for automakers as they increasingly collect oodles and oodles of data about the driver.

Automakers are collecting valuable pieces of information thanks to the internet connections, cameras and sensors built into most vehicles in recent years. The online access makes it possible for cars to be unlocked remotely if the keys are lost. It's how safety features can be upgraded wirelessly and maintenance schedules adjusted based on performance.

But these digital peepholes are also offering a windshield-size view of people's lives. That's creating the potential for intrusive marketing pitches and government surveillance.

No serious incidents have occurred in the United States, Europe and Japan, but a red flag has already been raised in China, where automakers have been sharing location details of connected cars with the government.

"We are not that far away from when 100 percent of all new cars will come equipped with data modems," Navigant Research analyst Sam Abuelsamid predicted. "Having the potential to collect more data about people in their cars means there is going to be potential for abuses, too."

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Gabbert keeps Titans' hopes alive, beating Redskins 25-16

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Tennessee Titans finally have a victory in a game where quarterback Marcus Mariota left injured, and Blaine Gabbert did much more than just win.

Gabbert kept the Titans' playoff hopes alive.

The veteran threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to MyCole Pruitt with 4:30 left and the Titans rallied to beat the Washington Redskins 25-16 on Saturday for their fourth straight victory.

"I don't know," Gabbert said when asked if this was the biggest win of his eight-year career with four teams. "It was a fun win. We got a big game next week."

The victory was Tennessee's first in the seven career games that Mariota has left with an injury.

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Oklahoma quickly becoming medical marijuana hotbed

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The rollout of statewide medical and recreational marijuana programs typically is a grindingly slow process that can take years. Not so in Oklahoma, which moved with lightning speed once voters approved medical cannabis in June.

The ballot question received 57 percent support and established one of the nation's most liberal medical pot laws in one of the most conservative states. Six months later, the cannabis industry is booming.

Farmers and entrepreneurs are racing to start commercial grow operations, and the state is issuing licenses to new patients, growers and dispensary operators at a frantic pace. Retail outlets opened just four months after legalization.

By contrast, voters in North Dakota, Ohio and neighboring Arkansas approved medical pot in 2016 but have yet to see sales begin amid legal wrangling and legislative meddling.

"I think we really are the wild, wild West in many respects," said attorney Sarah Lee Gossett Parrish, whose firm in Norman represents several cannabis businesses. "Here in Oklahoma, we're a pretty independent constituency. We are primarily a red state, but we don't like a lot of government controls."